Hugo Awards

The Hugo Award® is the leading award for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. The Hugos are awarded each year by the World Science Fiction Society, at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon).

Voting for the Hugo Awards takes place in two stages. The first stage, nomination, is open to anyone who has a Supporting or Attending membership in the previous, current, or following year's Worldcon as of January 31.
For Chicon 7, this meant members of Renovation (the 2011 Worldcon), Chicon 7 itself, and LoneStarCon 3 (the 2013 Worldcon). During this stage, which closed on Sunday, March 11, 2012, members could nominate any eligible work or person.

The second stage of voting is the final ballot. This stage, which closed on July 31, 2012, was open only to Chicon 7 members. In the final ballot, members choose between the five finalists in each category.

The Hugo Awards themselves are presented at a formal ceremony which is always one of the highlights of the Worldcon, and Chicon 7's ceremony was no different. The Chicon 7 ceremony took place on Sunday, September 2, 2012.

The official web site of the Hugo Awards is at www.thehugoawards.org. This site includes a full history of the Hugo Awards, nominees and winners, information on the voting process, a photo gallery of past trophy designs, and much more.

Chicon 7 members should remember that they will be entitled to nominate for the 2013 Hugo and John W Campbell Awards, which will be administered by LoneStarCon 3, the 2013 Worldcon. Nominations are expected to open in January 2013.

Hugo Winners

Chicago, Illinois, USA - Chicon 7 is pleased to announce the 2012 Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Award Winners. 1922 valid ballots were received and counted in the final ballot. A PDF is available with the full statistics for the nominating and final ballots.

The John W. Campbell Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2010 or 2011, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award): E. Lily Yu

The 2012 Hugo Award winners were announced on Sunday evening, September 2, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago. The ceremony was hosted by Chicon 7 Toastmaster John Scalzi.

The 2012 Hugo trophy base was designed by artist Deb Kosiba, who had also previously designed the bases for the 2005 and 2006 Worldcons.

Chicon 7 also presented a Special Committee Award to Chicago resident and science fiction author, editor, and collector Robert Weinberg.

Hugo Voter Packet

Chicon 7 produced the 2012 Hugo Voter Packet, an electronic package of nominated works graciously made available to voters by nominees and their publishers.

The 2012 Hugo Voter Packet was made available to Supporting, Attending, and Young Adult members of Chicon 7 to help inform them about the works under consideration before voting. The Packet is now closed.

Note: the Best Fancast nominees were not included in the download files but were freely available online. We have provided a separate page introducing these nominees and linking to selected examples of their 2011 work.

Hugo Award Categories

A full list of the current award categories with definitions is available here. In summary, however, the ongoing categories, for which Hugos are presented every year, are:

Best Novel (40,000 words or more)

Best Novella (17,500 to 40,000 words)

Best Novelette (7,500 to 17,500 words)

Best Short Story (up to 7,500 words)

Best Related Work

Best Graphic Story *

Best Dramatic Presentation "Long Form" (more than 90 minutes)

Best Dramatic Presentation "Short Form" (less than 90 minutes)

Best Editor Short Form

Best Editor Long Form

Best Professional Artist

Best Semiprozine

Best Fanzine

Best Fan Writer

Best Fan Artist

This year, Chicon 7 has also chosen to exercise its right under section 3.3.15 of the WSFS constitution to
create a single, extra, one-time Hugo Award. The additional award category is Best Fancast, defined as "Any non-professional audio- or
video-casting with at least four (4) episodes that had at least one (1) episode released in 2011."

By tradition, the Hugo voting process also includes the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. The Campbell Award is not a Hugo Award, and the rules governing it are determined by the award sponsor, Dell Magazines. However, the award traditionally is selected through the Hugo Awards voting process and presented at the Worldcon Hugo Awards Ceremony.

* Note: The Best Graphic Story Hugo is currently undergoing a trial period. This award was ratified at Anticipation, the 2009 Worldcon, and will be awarded until 2012. However, it must be re-ratified at the Business Meeting of the 2012 Worldcon (Chicon 7) or it will automatically
be removed as a category.